The mission of this project is simple – to cultivate community and connection at work, at school, and in our neighborhoods, through a willingness to listen to someone share about their day, and a willingness to share with someone about your day. We can choose to listen and share with each other in our moments of joy, our moments of suffering, and everything in between.

This project originated from Hooria Jazaieri’s long-standing interest in mental health and well-being – specifically, she’s interested in people’s experiences and expressions of emotion, and how sharing emotional experiences (both positive and negative) can create opportunities to cultivate community and connection between people. She thinks a simple question can be the catalyst to transforming workplaces, schools, and society. 

Inspiration for this project came from a number of places, including: former MIT student Isabel “Izzy” Lloyd’s project from 2015, courageous students initiating important conversations around mental health, recent research on a swift sense of community and artifacts by Livne-Tarandach & Jazaieri, 2021, Bob Chapman’s book Everybody Matters, and Sara Schairer’s organization Compassion It.  

Select news coverage –

• Wristband Project Hopes to Build Community and Connection Through Conversations